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Tuesday, May 17, 2016

Ron Paul -- Living By The Sword... Defense Bill Coming This Week: A Boost for War and Tyranny

Living By The Sword...

Defense Bill Coming This Week: A
Boost for War and Tyranny

By Ron Paul

You own your own body.No state has the right to force you to kill or be killed against your will. No state has a claim on your life.

May 16, 2016 "Information Clearing House" - For many of us
concerned with liberty, the letters “NDAA” have come to symbolize Washington’s
ongoing effort to undermine the US Constitution in the pursuit of constant war
overseas. It was the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for 2012 that
introduced into law the idea that American citizens could be indefinitely
detained without warrant or charge if a government bureaucrat decides they had
assisted al-Qaeda or “associated forces that are engaged in hostilities against
the United States.” No charges, no trial, just disappeared Americans.

The National Defense Authorization
bill should be a Congressional mechanism to bind the president to spend
national defense money in the way Congress wishes. It is the nuts and bolts of
the defense budget and as such is an important oversight tool preventing the
imperial executive from treating the military as his own private army.
Unfortunately that is no longer the case these days.

Why am I revisiting the NDAA today?
Unfortunately since 2012 these bills have passed the House with less and less
scrutiny, and this week the House is going to vote on final passage of yet
another Defense Authorization, this time for fiscal year 2017. Once again it is
a terrible piece of legislation that does great harm to the United States under
the guise of protecting the United States.

Unless some last minute changes take
place, this latest NDAA will force young women for the first time to register
to be drafted into the US military.For the past 36 years, young men have been
forced to register with Selective Service when they turn 18 or face felony
charges and years in prison. Under a perverted notion of “equality” some people
are cheering the idea that this represents an achievement for women. Why cheer
when slavery is extended to all? We should be fighting for an end to forced
servitude for young men and to prevent it being extended to women.

The argument against a draft should
appeal to all: you own your own body.No state has the right to force you to
kill or be killed against your will. No state has a claim on your life. We are
born with freedoms not granted by the state, but by our creator. Only
authoritarians seek to take that away from us.

Along with extending draft
registration to women, the latest NDAA expands the neocons’ new “Cold War” with
Russia, adding $3.4 billion to put US troops and heavy weapons on Russia’s
border because as the bill claims, “Russia presents the greatest threat to our
national security.” This NDAA also includes the military slush fund of nearly
$60 billion for the president to spend on wars of his choosing without the need
to get Congress involved. Despite all the cries that we need to “rebuild the
military," this year’s Defense Authorization bill has a higher base
expenditure than last year. There have been no cuts in the military. On the
contrary: the budget keeps growing.

The Defense Authorization bill
should remain notorious. It represents most of what is wrong with Washington.
It is welfare for the well-connected defense contractors and warfare on our
economy and on the rest of the world. This reckless spending does nothing to
defend the United States. It is hastening our total economic collapse.

assange

At midday on Friday 5 February, 2016 Julian Assange, John Jones QC, Melinda Taylor, Jennifer Robinson and Baltasar Garzon will be speaking at a press conference at the Frontline Club on the decision made by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the Assange case.